


Visions of Achilles

by bri_ghtly



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Quests, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, or more like my attempt at humour, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25874884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bri_ghtly/pseuds/bri_ghtly
Summary: He came to Will in a dream, in a flowing toga stained with blood, a helmet held in one hand, his loose blond curls floating around him as if he was suspended in water.‘My grave has been disturbed and my lover lostFind it where the Achaeans and Trojans crossedReturn me to the underworld so I may live ah-gainMy lover waits, don’t let his patience be in vain.’Will and Nico go on a quest to restore Achilles to the Underworld and get into a lot of antics on the way.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 17
Kudos: 61





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone!!  
> Thanks for clicking on my story :).  
> It's been a while since I've read HoO so please forgive me if I say something stupid that doesn't make sense in the PJO universe.   
> I hope you enjoy :)

He came to Will in a dream, in a flowing toga stained with blood, a helmet held in one hand, his loose blond curls floating around him as if he was suspended in water.

_‘My grave has been disturbed and my lover lost_

_Find it where the Achaeans and Trojans crossed_

_Return me to the underworld so I may live ah-gain_

_My lover waits, don’t let his patience be in vain_.’

Will jerks up with a start, breathing heavily as the words play over in his head. Having dreams is a common enough occurrence as a demigod but Will has a feeling this wasn’t just a random dream, this was a task.

He quickly reaches under his bed and pulls out the pen and paper that lay there, scribbling down the words that the man from the dreams had left for him.

He looks around the cabin, watching as his Apollo brothers and sisters sleep, no one else seems to be awake or alarmed. Will decides there’s probably not much he can do about this particular dream in the middle of the night so he puts his pen and paper back under his bed and tries to fall back to sleep.

When Nico’s dad had proposed he come stay with him for a while in the underworld Nico had thought ‘sure why not’. Apparently, there were a lot of reasons why not. For one, the souls in the field of asphodel never shut up. You’d think Greek architecture would have caught on to sound proofing but apparently not. His dad had also insisted on taking him on a visit to see souls being tortured which Hades had delighted in and had seemed to be uncomprehending on why it was not considered ‘entertainment’ to a fifteen-year-old demigod.

Then there had been the issue of school, Hades had originally told Nico that he himself would home-school Nico, that lasted about three days before Hades threw his textbook against a wall and proclaimed “All of this is rubbish, you don’t need long division in the underworld” and so for the last two weeks Nico had been taught nothing, except for how to agitate wondering souls and throw textbooks against walls.

The final straw had been when Persephone arrived, while Nick appreciated the company he really didn’t need to hear his dad ‘enjoying the company’. As soon as the noises across the hall had quietened, he’d packed his belongings into a duffel bag, throwing it over his shoulder and heading back up to the mainland.

He had thought of a few places he could go, at least for a while, Percy and Annabeth would probably let him stay the night with them, but there was only one place that he felt comfortable going to.

He arrives at Camp Half Blood in the middle of the night, the camp is quiet and dark, the embers from the fire having gone out a long time ago.

He makes his way to the Hades cabin, looking around as he goes. It’s been a while since he’s been here but it seems different at night, he supposes this is what it’s like over the summer empty of most people and quiet.

Nico has always struggled to fall asleep but he has no problems tonight, flopping down on one of the two beds in the Hades cabin, not bothering to change out of his black skull tee and baggy black jeans before falling into a deep sleep.

He wakes up what only seems like a few hours later with sleep crusted in his eyes and a pain where his belt buckle is pressing against his lower abdomen.

He groans and rolls onto his back, stretching his arms above him and arching off the bed, there’s light coming in through the windows but the cabin still looks dark and empty, his bag sitting lonely on the floor. The walls are bare and painted black, he doesn’t know what genius thought that would be a good idea, it makes the room feel like it’s closing in on you and the lack of decoration look even more stark.

He gets out of bed having a quick shower, changing into the clothes he was wearing the day before, his black cuffed jeans, skull t-shirt tucked in showing off his chunky black belt, he has three changes of clothes in his bag but this outfit was his favourite. Someone had introduced him to the wonderous world of doc martins and he’d slipped on his well worn black pair as he headed out.

Heading down to the dining pavilion, he catches a few people staring at him as he walks down the hill to breakfast but he tries to block out their stares as he rushes to the darkest corner of the pavilion he can find with his breakfast.

He’s eating his breakfast, trying to draw as little attention as possible when he hears the soft clip clopping on the marble floor.

“Nico.” Nico holds back his groan at the voice, “Hello, I can’t say we were expecting you.” Chiron’s voice is deeper than Nico remembers and when he looks up Chiron looks like he’s grown a beard since last time Nico saw him.

“Hi Chiron.” Nico mumbles, unwillingly to tell Chiron anything else.

“I thought you were staying with you fath-“ Before Chiron can finish asking a boy stumbles over to them. Literally stumbles, like as in trips over his own feet and has to reach out his arms to balance.

When he straightens and stands up, Nico slumps further. The boy is tall, he’s wearing a wide grin that practically takes up the whole bottom half of his face and his blond hair curls around his ears and falls into his blue eye’s. He’s undeniably gorgeous and Nico feels his cheeks heat as the boy continues over to them.

“Chiron, Chiron, I have to talk to you.” He rushes the words as he finally reaches them, he’s not frantic but has more of a relaxed urgency, if that is even possible.

“Will, calm down, I’m not going to run away.”

Will takes a breath and looks over at Nico then, Nico’s in the process of sliding down in his seat to try and avoid detection but Will spot’s him.

“Oh, sorry, did I interrupt you?” Will says guilty, “I can talk to you later Chiron.” He makes a move like he’s about to turn around and walk off but Chiron reaches out and grabs his shoulder turning him around.

“It’s fine, Will, what did you want to talk about?”

Will looks back over at Nico, Nico coughs and points his thumb to the doors of the pavilion, “I’ll just head out. See you lat-“

“Wait!” Nico looks back to see Will looking at him, a tilt to his head and a questioning look on his face.

“You’re Nico di Angelo right?” Will asks him.

Nico is used to people knowing his name, you can’t really be the son of the God of the Underworld without having most demigods at least know your name but the way it rolls off Will’s tongue, his tongue wrapping perfectly around the Italian pronunciation makes Nico’s brain stutter.

Nico nods at Will.

“Yeah.” His voice comes out scratchy, he coughs quickly and tries again, his ‘yeah’ coming out a bit stronger this time.

“You might be able to help me.” Will says before waving his hand and gesturing Nico closer from where he’s slid across the bench seat.

Chiron looks as confused as Nico feels but he slides back over as Chiron looks over at Will expectantly.

Nico looks up to Will trying to avoid looking at his eye’s, Will pulls out a small notebook from the back pocket of his jeans and flips it open.

“I had this dream last night but I think it was more than just a random dream.”

Ok that’s not so weird, dreams often aren’t just dreams for demigods but Nico still doesn’t know why he’s here.

“There was this guy,” Will explains, “he had long blonde hair, kinda buff. He said something to me.” Will looks down at his notebook as he tells them what the man said.

“My grave has been disturbed and my lover lost

Find it where the Achaeans and Trojans crossed

Return me to the underworld so I may live ah-gain

My lover waits, don’t let his patience be in vain.”

Will finishes and looks up, at least Nico knows why he’s here now, he can imagine why Will might want him here if he’d had a dream that mentioned the Underworld.

“What do you think?” It takes a second for Nico to realise Will is asking him, he’s still trying to avoid looking at the guy, he seems to radiate light.

“Um,” Nico says dumbly looking between Will and Chiron, “well sometimes if a name is taken off a grave stone or something, or a gravestone is destroyed the spirit can’t get into the underworld. It sounds like this guy is locked out.”

Will looks at him considering, Nico tries not to do anything stupid under his gaze.

Nico looks over to Chiron, “Do you know who it is? The guy in the dream?” Nico asks him.

Chiron thinks for a minute “Blond hair you said?”

Will nods quickly.

“I have a hunch. An old student of mine, Achilles.”

“It makes sense,” Nico says as he thinks about it, “Achilles was in the Trojan war, he had, um, he had a male lover. The guy in the dream said ‘his lover’” Nico feels himself blush as he says it.

“Huh?” Will says considering, “I didn’t know Achilles had a boyfriend.”

“They were more than just boyfriends,” Chiron said, “I don’t think I’ve seen a love like that before. They would rather die than be without each other.”

Will shakes himself out of a wistful look, “So what do we do?” he asks.

“Well you need to go and restore Achilles’s grave.” Chiron says matter of factly.

“Like a quest.” Will says, a big smile breaking out over his face, “I’ve never been on a quest.”

Nico has to look away from that smile.

Chiron chuckles at the look on Will’s face and his excited tone, “Calm down Solace, you have to have a plan first, maybe some people to take with you.”

Will looks away for a minute his face screwed up adorably as he focuses. Oh jeez, Nico should probably stop thinking about Will using adjectives like adorable.

“Well, did you want to come with me?” Will turns to Nico as he asks.

Nico looks at him with shock clear on his face, Will just laughs, “What? You’ve been on quest’s right? And you could take us to the Underworld, we could talk to Achilles lover.” Will looks at him enthusiastically.

Nico’s not particularly keen on going back to where he just came from but he can’t deny it’s probably a good place to start. But he’s just met this guy and he can barely look at him without blushing like a lunatic.

Chiron interrupts his thought process, “Well it sounds like a good idea to me, I trust you both to be able to handle yourselves.”

Nico wants to glare at Chiron, does he have no sympathy for Nico’s bumbling around pretty boys?

Will’s smile just broadens as he looks at Nico.

Nico sighs softly and nods slowly “Ok, Ok yeah I’ll go with you.”

Will gives a little whoop and claps his hands.

“I’m going on a quest!’ he shouts at the Apollo table. They all cheer back at him and Nico rolls his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!  
> I'm back with a new chapter!!  
> Thank you so much to everyone who read, gave kudos, bookmarked or commented. I really, really appreciate it, your response made me continue this story so hopefully you like this new chapter.

Nico is waiting at too-early o’clock next to Thalia’s pine tree for Will to show up. They’d organised to leave early so that it would be easier for Nico to get them to the Underworld, it was always easier to shadow travel when it was dark.

“Sorry,” someone yells, panting behind Nico.

Nico turns to see Will running up the path, his hair is sticking up all over the place and one of his laces is still undone. He reaches down to tie it up when he reaches Nico, his duffle bag hits the ground with a clunk as he kneels on the ground.

“I turned my alarm off when it went off and then I accidently fell back asleep, I was just going to close my eyes, next thing I know I’m waking up half an hour later.” He looks up to Nico and rolls his eyes at himself.

Nico tries to resist the smile that’s threatening to work it’s way on to his face but he feels his lip quirk as he looks down at Will.

“It’s fine.” He concedes, he should probably be mad but it’s kind of hard to be mad at someone who looks like they just fell out of bed.

“So how do we do this?” Will asks as he straightens up. Nico has to crane his neck up a little to look at him.

“Just hold on, you might feel a bit weird when we get there but that’s usual for your first time shadow travelling.” Nico says as he sticks out his hand for Will.

Will nods seriously and reaches out to take Nico’s hand, his long fingers wrap around Nico’s making them look paler than usual against the tan of Will’s skin. The butterflies that erupt in his stomach are completely unbidden and Nico mentally scolds himself, he’s barely met this kid, he can’t be crushing on him already, he’s really trying to avoid another Percy situation.

“You ready?” Nico asks, looking back up to Will.

“Yup.”

Nico would almost believe him if it weren’t for the way his face has gone a little pale and his hand is sweating against Nico’s.

Nico just closes his eyes and focuses on the Underworld, visualising the lounge room at Hades house. He feels himself being pulled, it starts at his feet and it feels like someone is dragging him down, one body part at a time. Nico’s used to but it doesn’t mean it feels any less strange than the first time.

When Nico feels like he’s back in one piece he opens his eyes, taking in the fireplace and mantle of Hades loungeroom. He turns quickly to Will to ask him if he’s alright but before he can get the words out he feels Will’s grip slacken in his hand and when he looks up to Will’s face it’s almost white and colourless and Nico watches as Will’s eye’s roll back in his skull and he’s suddenly slumping towards the ground, boneless.

Nico catches him as best he can as Will crumples to the floor, he just manages to save Will’s head from hitting the hard wood floor.

“Well Nico, who’s this?”

He groans as he hears his father’s voice behind him.

“Found yourself a friend have you, is that where you’ve been?”

He’s kneeling beside Will who still seems to be out cold but he turns to face his father who’s leaning his shoulder against the door frame.

“We’re on a quest.” He tells his father plainly.

Hades nods and starts walking into the room.

“And what? You picked a fainting goat as your quest partner?”

“He picked me.” Nico says back quietly.

He turns away from his father as he says it so he doesn’t see Hades face, he looks back down at Will who’s still sprawled on the floor. He watches’ from his peripheral as Hades walks towards them, his dad snaps his fingers and Will’s eyes blink open slowly.

“Did you do that?” He asks his father.

“You now what they say ‘sleep is the cousin of death.’”

“He fainted.” Nico deadpans.

“Ah, fainting, sleeping, death, all close enough for me.”

Will groans and Nico looks back down at him.

“How are you feeling?” Nico asks him, some of the colour has returned to Will’s face and his cheeks are pinkening a bit.

“Weird. Did I pass out?”

Nico nods and reaches out to help him sit up as Will works his way up on his elbows before sitting up.

“Huh? I’ve watched so many people faint in the infirmary but I’ve never fainted before.”

“You worked in the infirmary right?” Nico asks.

Will just nods before reaching his hands up to rub against his face and shaking his head lightly.

“Did you want some water?” Nico asks.

“Yes please.”

“I’ll get it.” His father interrupts them loudly and Nico starts, he’d forgot he was even there. Before he can thank his dad he’s disappearing in a flash.

“Was that your Dad?” Will asks him after a moment.

Nico nods at him, “yeah sorry about him.”

“I’ve never met a God before.” Will says a hint of awe in his voice.

“Not even your Dad?”

“Nah, probably too many kids for him to care about me.” Will doesn’t seem to mind that he hasn’t meet his Dad, his eye’s start looking around the room.

“I take it we made it to the Underworld?”

Nico nods at him but before he can say anything else his Dad flashes up in front of the fire holding a glass of water that he hands down to Will.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Oh no need for that formal stuff you can just call me ‘King of the Underworld.’”

Will nods his head seriously and his Dad lasts a few more second’s before he starts laughing hysterically at himself. Nico brings a hand up to rub against his forehead, it seems no matter how few kids an immortal God has they can’t help making stupid Dad jokes.

“I’m just joking,” his Dad finally says at Will’s confusion, “you can call me Hades.” He reaches his hand down to Will who’s still sitting on the floor.

“Will.” Will replies as he reaches out to shake his Dad’s hand and takes a drink from his glass as he releases Hades hand.

“So, what brings you back home Nico?”

“Uh, well, Will had this dream-“

“Oh well I’m glad someone’s dreaming about my son for once, it’s always him dreaming about boys. I swear you should’v-“

“Dad!” Nico says, eye’s widening and his cheeks heating at his Dad’s rambling. He shakes his head quickly at his Dad.

Seeming to get the message his Dad turns back to Will, “Oh, Uh so what was this dream about then?”

Nico avoids looking over at Will, he might not ever be able to look at him. Damn his father and his big mouth.

“Well, um, there was this guy.” When Hades eyebrows only raise Will quickly continues. “He said this little poem.” Nico hears movement and rustling, he assumes Will is pulling the paper with the poem out of his pocket. Will clears his throat before relaying the poem to Hades.

“Hmmm.” His Dad murmurs as Will finishes.

“Chiron thought it might be Achilles.” Will adds as he stuffs the poem back in his pocket, or at least that’s what Nico assumes the rustling is, he still hasn’t looked back over to Will.

“That would make sense.” Hades confirms, “I think Achilles had a run in with Hera the other week, maybe she did something. I can get Persephone to take you down to see Patroclus tomorrow.”

“Patroclus?” Will questions.

“Achilles’ lover.” Hades clarifies.

“Oh, that would be great! Thank you.”

“But before that, lunch!” Hades announces, “And Nico you can go drop your stuff off in your room and show Will around, I’ll have a guest bedroom set up for Will.”

“Oh please don’t go to too much trouble, I can just sleep on a couch or something.”

“Well I suppose you can share with Nico.” His Dad says before turning with a wicked smile to Nico.

Nico clenches his teeth and gives his Dad a look “It’s ok there’s plenty of spare rooms.” Nico says finally turning back to Will who seems to have recovered from his fainting spell, although they’re both still sitting on the floor.

Nico stands up and reaches a hand down to help Will up.

“I’ll show you around.” Nico says as Will stands up.

Nico never understood how people lived next to busy roads or railway tracks until he started sleeping in the Underworld. He’d managed to get used to the distant sounds of screaming, moaning and general complaints of the souls in the Underworld so when he went to go to bed after Hades had finally relented and let both him and Will go to sleep his eyes were closed almost as soon as he hit the pillow.

Nico wakes up to a knocking noise and when he checks the clock on his bedside table he realises it’s only a few hours after he went to sleep. He figures he must have waken up from a dream and closes his eyes to sleep again and just as he’s hovering between consciousness and sleep the knocking comes again, he realises it’s coming from his door.

He rubs his eyes, “Who is it?” his voice comes out deeper and croaker than usual.

“It’s Will.” The voice behind the door says and Nico shoots up in bed.

He quickly tries to flatten his hair from where he’s sure it’s sticking up as he gets out of bed.

When Nico opens the door to Will’s, he’d wearing a Camp Half Blood shirt that has a hole in the collar and a pair of pyjama pants.

“Can I come in?” Will asks looking a bit guilty when he seems to realise he woke Nico up.

Nico just nods dumbly, he doesn’t think he’s over seeing Will with sleep mused hair and comfy clothes. Will closes the door behind him as he steps into Nico’s room.

“Sorry.” Will says a bit louder when the door’s closed, “It’s just so loud, and creepy and I’m- well, I’m not used to sleeping in a room by myself. Can I maybe sleep in here, I’ll just sleep on the floor?”

Nico looks over to the bed and back to Will.

“You can, um, we can share the bed if you want? It’s big enough to fit two people.” Oh Gods Nico can feel himself going red, Nico’s glad that the only light in the room is coming through the windows.

“I mean only if it’s ok for you.” Will says.

“It’s fine.” Nico would almost believe himself if he’s voice didn’t crack like a pre-pubescent kid. He cringes internally but Will doesn’t seem to notice as he moves over the bed, grumbling when he accidently walks into the corner of the small coffee table in Nico’s room.

When Will gets to the bed he looks down at it, “Which side is yours?”

“Not the one next to the wall.” Nico says, trying to regain some composure.

Will just nods and lets out a yawn as he climbs across the bed and flops down.

“’M so tired.” He mumbles into the pillow and closes his eyes.

Nico moves robotically back to the bed, trying to return his heartbeat to normal and quieten his breathing.

He gingerly get’s into bed next to Will and lays on his back staring up at the ceiling.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep on the floor?”

When Nico looks over to Will, Will’s already looking back at him.

Nico flushes and shakes his head, looking back up to the ceiling, “It’s ok, it’s just I don’t think I’ve ever shared a bed with someone.”

“Really?”

“Mmm, I mean no one really ever comes to the Underworld with me and I’m usually the only one in the Hades cabin.”

“Well, sometimes I wish I was the only one in the Apollo cabin, none of them know the meaning of personal space.”

Nico laughs quietly. “I bet.”

“It must get lonely down here.”

Nico closes his eye’s as Will lets out off the soft words, he’s usually pushing his own isolation from his head. It’s fine when he’s with Percy and Annabeth or Hazel but they’re all off doing their own thing now and Nico feels like he’s been left behind.

“It is.” Nico whispers the words but he feels as Will’s hand comes out to grab his under the covers. He looks over to Will but his eye’s are closed and his chest rising and falling slowly, already asleep.

It’s not long before Nico follows him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone for reading the new chapter.  
> Hopefully you liked it.  
> Let me know what you thought of it.  
> Any kudos, bookmarks and comments are super duper appreciated.  
> come say hi on my [Tumblr](https://bri-ghtly.tumblr.com/) :)


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone.  
> I'm so sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. I got really busy with uni and didn't have much time to write.  
> Hopefully you like this new chapter and now that uni's almost finished for me I should hopefully (fingers crossed) have some more time to write and be able to get the new chapter out sooner.

“So how’d you both sleep?” Persephone asks.

They’re walking through the Fields of Asphodel, Persephone leading the way and Will looking around with wide, horrified eyes. He’s been standing as close to Nico as he can seem to get since they left Hades house.

Nico blushes as he remembers his sleep, he’d sleep almost embarrassingly well with Will next to him and he’d woken up to Will’s arm slung across his stomach, the bare skin of Will’s arm touching Nico’s stomach where his t-shirt had ridden up.

“Great.” Will says, with false cheer.

“Oh, that’s brilliant. Hades never lets me invite anyone over because he says that they won’t be able to sleep down here, you’ll have to tell him so I can start inviting people under.” She turns to them with a smile.

Nico gives her a small smile in return. He’d never minded Persephone but her cheeriness got on his nerves at times. Will just moves closer to Nico.

“Is it much further?” Will whispers in his ear when Persephone turns around and keeps walking, his warm breath flutters against Nico’s ear and he represses a shiver.

He shakes his head. They were heading to Elysium, the place set for a special few to spend their afterlife. Nico knew the story of Achilles and Patroclus, he’s glad they would spend eternity in peace together, although maybe he should reserve that judgement until he’d met them.

“Here we are.” Persephone cheers and claps her hands together. “Gosh, isn’t it beautiful. I keep telling Hades we should move down here but he wants to be on the hill so he can see everything.”

“Wow.” Will breathes out.

Nico thinks he’d had a similar reaction when he’d first seen Elysium, it was basically the front garden of a beautiful mansion on crack, like the most fantastical botanical garden you’ve seen but times it’s extravagance by 10. Beautifully manicured lawns, flower bushes that constantly sprouted and enough water fountains and statues to fill a small island.

There was a marble fence surrounding the garden with elaborate scenes carved into it and a literal golden gate set at the entrance.

“Well, I have to go visit some souls down at the Fields, will you be ok from here Nico?” Persephone asks.

Nico nods, “Thanks Persephone.”

“Well have fun.” She says reaching out to pull him into a quick hug.

When’s she’s out of sight Will turns to Nico, “Will we be alright without her?”

“We’ll be fine, no one likes to mess the bosses son.”

Will laughs and Nico’s heart fills a little with the trilling sound.

“So how do we get in?” Will asks, looking up at the doors and back down to Nico.

Nico reaches into his pocket of his jeans, hand scrabbling around for the needle he’d brought.

“What’s that for?” Will asks, brows furrowing when Nico pulls out the needle.

Instead of answering him Nico quickly pricks his pinkie with the needle. He waits until a small drop of blood has welled up and presses it against the gates, right on the lock that holds the two halves of the gates together. He pulls his hand back and watches as the droplet sinks into the gold of the lock, getting sucked into the key hole.

There’s a click as the lock comes undone and the gates let out a loud creaking noise as they open and Will is smiling in awe when Nico looks over to him.

“Ready to go in?”

Will just nods enthusiastically, a smile still plastered on his face. Nico can’t help but grin back at him before turning and walking through gates.

Once they’ve both stepped through the gates they start shutting slowly behind them. There’s a few people milling about, talking in groups or just laying on the grass and Nico goes to walk forward, his Dad had told him where Patroclus and Achilles lived last night and Nico figured that was the best place to start, but before he can walk down the path a hand wraps around his wrist.

Nico looks over to Will but Will’s looking down at Nico’s hand. Nico stands still as Will lifts Nico’s hand up, cupping the back of it.

“What are you doing?” Nico asks.

Will doesn’t say anything just looks up to Nico with a grin and shakes a band-aid at him.

“Do you carry those with you?” Nico asks incredulously as Will starts undoing the band-aid.

“I’m a healer, I can’t help it.”

Nico laughs at him as he wraps up Nico’s pinkie finger.

“That’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard.”

Will just looks down at him with a large grin as he finishes wrapping Nico’s finger, his hand is still cupped under Nico’s. Will squeezes his hand before releasing it.

“So which way?” Will asks turning back to the path.

Nico just lets out another small laugh, shaking his head with a smile on his face and starts walking to where his Dad had shown him Patroclus and Achilles lived.

Nico wasn’t going to admit he was walking slower than usual just so Will could take in Elysium but he may be walking slower than usual so that Will could look around.

“Can anyone’s blood open the gate?” Will asked as they walked past a quaint cottage surrounded by a fence made of rocks stacked on top of each other that have been covered in moss, there was a single white dress swaying on a washing line next to the house.

“Only Hades blood, or well half-blood. I think Persephone has a key. This way.” Nico starts cutting across one of the lawns as he answers Will.

Nico doesn’t think he’s ventured this far into Elysium before, it seems to stretch on forever, Nico supposes you need a lot of room to fit all the truly great people throughout history.

“Where exactly are we going?” Will asks as they walk past a statue of what looks like Medusa, her arms wrapped around another lady.

“We’re going to Patroclus and Achilles house, Dad told me where it was last night.”

“What’s their deal anyway?”

“Well, you know the story of Achilles right?”

“Um, only a little bit.” Will says, Nico looks over to him but Will’s eyes are moving quickly from one thing to the other trying to take in as much of his surroundings as he can.

“Well, they grew up together. Patroclus went with Achilles when he went to train with Chiron, they fell in love. Then Achilles got sent to fight for Troy, something about a stolen wife or something, Patroclus followed him. They stayed there for years, Achilles would go off and fight all day and come home to Patroclus. Patroclus was killed one day by Hector, speared through the chest. Achilles was heartbroken. He went and got his revenge, dragged Hector’s body around for three days. He was killed eventually. They reunited down here though.” Nico lets out a small smile, sometimes people forget that there can be beauty anywhere, even in the Underworld.

“How do you know all that?” Will asks when Nico’s finished.

“I like the story.” Nico answers simply, he doesn’t mention how he’d religiously researched Achilles and Patroclus as a young boy when his father off-handily mentioned something about them being together. Seeing such a pure, ever-lasting love had helped him come to terms with himself, he had a lot to thank Achilles and Patroclus for.

“Have you met them before?”

Nico shakes his head, “I tried to sneak down here one time, I was only young, I wanted to meet all my favourite people. Dad caught me before I was even halfway down here, he hasn’t let me down here since then, says the souls don’t like being disturbed by naughty kids.” He lets out a laugh at the memory, his Dad had hauled him off by the back of his t-shirt.

Will laughs as well, Nico looks back at him and feels like he’s been hit by something. Will’s blond hair glitters in the sunlight, his eyes are small and crinkled as a smile overtakes his face. Luckily he spots something behind Will before he can embarrass himself.

“That’s their house.” Nico says pointing behind Will, Will turns to look at it.

“A cave?” Will’s voice is sceptical, “You’re telling me we’re in the top 1% of the Underworld and they live in a cave.”

Nico laughs at him, “It’s where they fell in love, why not a cave?” Nico gives Will’s shoulder a small push as he rebukes him.

“Well I hope the inside it nicer than the outside.” Will says as they start walking towards the cave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!  
> I'd love to know what you guys are thinking of the story so far and thank you to anyone who is sticking around for chapter updates, you guys are the best.  
> As always any comments, kudos and bookmarks are super duper appreciated.  
> Come say hi on my [tumblr](https://bri-ghtly.tumblr.com/) if you'd like.  
> Hopefully I'm able to update again soon but I'm not sure how busy I'll be in the next few weeks.  
> Thanks again for reading!!


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!  
> I hope you like this new chapter.  
> I was excited to introduce a new character this chapter ;)

The inside is indeed nicer than the outside. The cave didn’t have a door so Nico had yelled a ‘Hello’ and when no one replied they started tentatively entering the cave.

They got to the main area of the cave without anyone rebuking them and were now standing in the middle of a large lounge room. The cave had a large interior and was warmer than any cave up on earth would be and somehow there was skylights that let in a lot of natural light.

The room was circular, a bed pushed off to one side, a kitchen to the other, the lounge room had a couch and a TV against the wall. There was a door next to the bed, Nico presumed it led to a bathroom.

There was a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter filled only with figs and Nico was inspecting it when he heard a soft whistling coming from the entry to the cave.

“Will.” He whispers trying to catch the boys attention.

Will turns from where he was intently studying the paintings on wall on the opposite side of the room.

Nico flicks his head toward the entry of the cave.

Wills looks puzzled for a second before his eyes widen in shock and a look of worry comes over his face.

The whistling is growing louder and before Nico can find a hiding place a man who he assumes is Patroclus is stepping into the room.

The man drops the basket he’d been carrying and lets out a yell when he spots Nico in the kitchen.

Nico winches at the way the scream echoes off the walls of the cave.

“Who are you?” The man demands, he steps over the dropped basket and starts striding swiftly towards Nico.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s ok.”

Patroclus hadn’t seemed to notice Will standing off to the other side of the room and he turns swiftly at Will’s voice and Nico internally rolls his eye’s at Will revealing himself so quickly.

“And who are you? What are you doing in my house?” Patroclus demands again.

Will looks at Nico helplessly, Nico wants to be mad that Will had given up the advantage of Patroclus not knowing he was there but he can’t seem to help the way his stomach turns a bit mushy instead at Will’s helpless look.

When Nico realises everyone’s been quiet for a minute and Patroclus is still staring at them warily he clears his throat.

“Um Hi. I’m Nico, Nico di Angelo and this is Will.”

Nico notices how Patroclus’s eye’s widen in recognition at Nico’s name, he supposes there’s only one son of the God of the Underworld.

“Ok… and what are you doing in my house?” Patroclus still looks sceptical of him and Will is wearing his biggest grim and slumping his shoulders, he looks about as threatening as a bunny rabbit and the effect seems to be working on Patroclus because the tension in his shoulder’s is easing slightly.

“We’re here about Achilles.” Nico says the words and watches as Patroclus seems to drain of all the energy he had, his shoulder’s fall and his face becomes the picture of sadness. He’d been standing in the loungeroom but as his body seems to drain he sit’s down heavily on the couch.

“Oh my love.” Patroclus let’s out on a whisper and puts his head in his hands.

Watching the man fall apart pulls at Nico’s heart, here’s one of the men that had made him able to come to terms with himself and he seems utterly broken.

Will turns from where he was watching Patroclus and turns to Nico with a worried look in his eye.

Nico isn’t really sure what to do so he just gives Will a helpless little shake of the head before walking slowly to the loungeroom.

Will follows his lead and sit’s down gently beside Patroclus when he reaches the man.

“I had a dream.” Will says quietly after a moment.

Nico sit’s down on the opposite side of Patroclus as Will continues his story.

“He came to me, Achilles that is.”

Patroclus pulls his head from his hands and turns suddenly at the words to face Will.

“He did? Was he ok? Did he look ok? I don’t know where he went one night he was here and then by morning he was gone, at first I thought he’d just gone out to get something but after he didn’t return that night I went out looking for him but no one seemed to know where he’d gone. You’re your dad.” Patroclus says, directing the last words at Nico.

There are tears in his eyes and he’s ringing his hands worriedly in his lap. Nico watches as Will reaches out a hand to rest gently on Patroclus’s shoulder and he squeezes it gently.

“He seemed ok, he sent me a message. I think he wants me to bring him back, back here.”

Patroclus nods his head slowly and Nico watches as a tear drips from his eyes and traces down his face before dropping and falling in his lap.

Nico feels like crying himself, to see the man so upset is making Nico want to cry and he feels his eye’s get glassy with tears that he’s trying to hold back.

“We thought maybe you’d be able to help us so we can go find him and bring him back, that you might help us with the message.” Will looks over to Nico for confirmation but as soon as he spots the look on Nico’s face his eyebrows pull in, his concern plan on his face. Nico just gives a small nod of his head.

“What, did the message say? What did Achilles tell you?” Patroclus asks not seeming to notice what had passed between Nico and Will.

Will looks back at Patroclus as he says the words that had been playing through Nico’s head for the last few days.

“ _‘My grave has been disturbed and my lover lost_

_Find it where the Achaeans and Trojans crossed_

_Return me to the underworld so I may live ah-gain_

_My lover waits, don’t let his patience be in vain_.’”

“Oh no. Damn that wretch.” Patroclus says as Will finishes talking.

“Pardon?” Will asks but Patroclus seems to be seething. He stands up abruptly and picks up the vase that had been sitting on the small coffee table and without preamble he heaves the vase with all his might against the wall and lets out a shout.

He looks as though he’s looking for something else to throw but before he can find it Will is standing in front of him he’s got his palms out in a placating gesture.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok. Calm down.”

Patroclus huffs for a few more breathes before he seems to come back to himself and before Will or Nico can do anything he starts sobbing.

“That bitch! She took him away, she took him away. This is the longest he’s been gone from me and that rat took him.” The words are a little muddled as they come through bursts of sobbing.

Will’s still standing in front of the man and he reaches out tentatively to wrap his arms around the man. He catches Nico’s eyes over Patroclus’s shoulder as the man sobs against Will. Will gives Nico a questioning look but Nico just shakes his head, unsure.

After a while Patroclus seems to calm and Will guides him down gently to sit back on the couch. The man takes a deep breath and as Will releases him he reaches up to wipe at his face.

“He asked me to marry him before he was taken. He proposed at our favourite look out, you can see the whole of Elysium from it.” Patroclus takes a deep breath and Nico and Will wait for them to continue.

“I don’t know how, but Hera found out about it, she wasn’t happy. People in the Underworld aren’t meant to get married, it probably doesn’t help that we’re both men.” Patroclus says with an angry laugh.

“She will be the one who took him, took him from me.” The words are raspy and Nico can here the pain in them.

“I miss him. Every morning I wake up and expect to find him back in bed beside me and then I turn and he’s not there.”

Nico can’t help the way his mind casts back to how he and Will had woken up this morning, huddled together.

“We’ll bring him back for you.” Nico says with surety.

Both Will and Patroclus turn at the determined words.

“We’ll go talk to Hera and we’ll get him back for you.”

Patroclus seems to bite his lip to stop it wobbling.

“Please, I just want him back. I know it’s selfish, we’ve had hundreds of years together but I don’t know what to do without him here. I love him.”

Nico nods in understanding and reaches out to give the man a hug, he’s not really a hugger but the Patroclus doesn’t seem to mind Nico’s awkwardness, he just hugs him back fiercely.

“Thank you, thank you. We’ll owe you after this.”

“No problem, you deserve to be together.” Nico says pulling back from the man with a small smile.

They spend a little longer with Patroclus, he sets up a platter of sweet fresh figs and soft cheeses for them. Nico takes a bite of the fresh fig and the sweetness of it bursts in his mouth, he supposes the food would only be of the highest standard in Elysium.

They leave as the sky is growing dark and Elysium is cast in the soft pink light of a setting sun.

Nico takes a deep breath of the cool air as they leave the cave and shuts his eye’s briefly before walking back towards the gates, Will following beside him silently.

“You ok?” Will asks after a while of them walking in silence.

“Yeah, I think so. It was hard to see him so upset.”

“I know what you mean, have you met him before?”

“No, sometimes it feels like I have though. I found everything I could about Achilles I could when I was younger, I even snooped in my dad’s office. I’m glad he never found out about that.” Nico shivers a little thinking of how mad his Dad would have been to find Nico in his office.

Will hums in acknowledgment, they walk back past the small cottage but the white dress has been taken back off the washing line.

“Why Achilles?” Will asks after a moment.

“Huh?”

“Well, I just mean why Achilles? Out of all the God’s and people in Greek mythology, why Achilles?”

Nico stiffens a little, he wasn’t expecting the question and it takes him off guard a little.

“Well, um.” Nico stutters a little trying to think of a quick explanation that won’t leave him embarrassed.

“Well I just liked- I just, I really liked his story you know. He was so strong but he was able to love so fiercely, they loved each other for a lifetime, I just think it’s really beautiful.”

Nico realises he sounds like a hopeless romantic and he blushes, turning his head to the side so Will doesn’t notice.

“I hadn’t really thought about it like that before.” Will says quietly. “I can’t imagine loving someone for that long.”

“I think I could, if it was the right person. If it was the right person I would want to be with them forever.” Nico says turning back to Will.

Will looks at him them and his eye’s lock on Nico.

“Yeah, I suppose if it was the right person I could love them forever.”

Nico tries to fight the heat rising in his cheeks but he doesn’t think he succeeds and he can tell his cheeks are pinkening.

“Oh there you two are!”

The voice snaps him out of his reverie and he looks over to find Persephone walking towards them.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, I thought I’d have to go get your Dad.”

Nico sighs and starts walking to Persephone, Will following behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!!, I hope you enjoyed it!!  
> I've written the next chapter, I'm not sure when I'll be releasing it but I hope you're excited for some fluff!!  
> As always any kudos and bookmarks are really appreciated and people who leave comments literally make my day, I love y'all!!  
> This is one of my worst performing fic's but I honestly love writing it so much and I'm so excited for where I want to take this story so to everyone that's reading, thank you so much!! You're the best.  
> Also I don't have a beta reader, does any one know how one get's a beta reader?? Would anyone here to interested in beta reading??  
> Thank you so much to everyone!!  
> Also, I'd love if you come said hi on [Tumblr](https://bri-ghtly.tumblr.com/)


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.   
> I think this is the quickest I've updated!   
> Get ready for some fluff!!!  
> I had so much fun writing this chapter so I really hope you guys enjoy it.

“So how’d you go today boys? Did you find who you were looking for? Who was it? Patrick” His Dad asks over the dinner table. Hades stabs the piece of meat on his plate and shovels it into his mouth after asking the question.

The intense chewing and stare down would be intimidating to Nico if it was any one other than his Dad.

“It’s Patroclus, but yes, we found him and we found out what happened. Or at least what Patroclus think happened.”

His Dad swallows his mouthful before answering. “That’s good then. What did this Patroclus fellow think happened?”

“Well he was pretty upset but he thinks maybe Hera took Achilles.”

“Ahhh, of course, it always seems to be her, melding in everyone’s business.” His Dad scowls down at his plate as he angrily stabs an unsuspecting potato, “Why does Patroclus think Hera took him?”

Nico had taken a bite of his dinner as his Dad asked the question and he starts chewing quicker so he can answer but before he can reply Will answers for him.

“Patroclus thinks Hera is angry that Achilles proposed to Patroclus. He said people in the Underworld weren’t allowed to get married and Hera found out and took Achilles so they couldn’t get married.”

Hades had turned to Will as the boy explained and Nico watches as his Dad rolls his eyes at the explanation.

“Oh that dumb rule. Hera and ‘sanctity of marriage’” His Dad put’s the last words in air quotes, “Of course, I’ve never had a problem with those down here marring but anytime Hera catches wind of an Underworld marriage she has to get involved. Just let the people have their Gods Damn wedding woman.” The final sentence is shouted to the roof.

“Do you think Hera will give back Achilles?” Will looks hopeful as he asks the question.

His Dad takes a moment to think, chewing slowly at the food in is mouth.

“Maybe, after some bargaining she might be willing. I can send you to Mount Olympus tomorrow so you can talk to her.”

“That would be amazing.” Will thanks Nico’s Dad with a big grin on his face. He turns the grin to Nico after a moment and Nico weakly returns it before looking down at his plate, least he be blinded by the cheerfulness he see’s there.

“Great, well I have a meeting with Poseidon at noon but I can send you up in the morning if that works for you two.”

“That would be great, thanks Dad.” Nico smiles at his Dad and his Dad nods back at him before turning to Persephone and asking her something about the Fields.

He feels something nudge his foot and he turns to find Will looking at him with a small smile and an excited look in his eyes.

“I’ve never been to Mount Olympus before. You’ve been right?”

Nico nods, “I went after it was redesigned by Annabeth.”

“Wow, that must have been so exciting.”

Nico tries to remember the day but he can’t seem to recall much of it, he remembers buildings that dwarfed him, fancy statues of every Greek God and myth imaginable and fountains that seemed to spurt liquid gold but he can’t really remember what he did. He also remembers trying to avoid watching Percy and Annabeth together, Percy couldn’t seem to shut up about how amazing everything was.

“It’s really pretty, you’ll love it.” He tells Will.

Will’s smile grows and he turns back to his plate to finish his dinner.

Nico’s not surprised by the knock at his door that night. In fact he’d not been able to fall asleep and every time he seemed on the cusp he’d think he heard a knock at his door and was startled back to wakefulness. The knock at his door, he almost mistakes for another of the fake knocks he seemed to be hearing.

After waiting a while the knock comes again, a bit louder this time.

He gets up quickly, convinced this is a real knocking. He walks quickly to the door and takes a deep breath before opening it.

“Hey.” Will says softly once the door is open before squeezing past Nico and into the room.

“Sorry, it’s just so creepy, all the sounds. Is it ok if I sleep in here again? I can sleep on the floor or something if you want.”

“It’s ok, you can sleep with me.”

Nico blushes when he realises what he said but Will doesn’t seem to notice anything odd and he just quickly gets under the covers of the bed.

Nico follows him and he feels a lot more settled when he gets back into the bed with the warmth of Will beside him, he closes his eyes and let’s out a soft sigh.

“Tell me about Mount Olympus.”

After a few minutes of silence Nico figured Will must have fallen asleep and he starts slightly at Will’s soft request.

“What do you want to know?” Nico asks just as quietly.

“I don’t know, everything.”

Nico laughs softly, “You’ll see it soon enough.”

“I can’t wait,” Nico hears Will shift in the bed, “just tell me about the day you spent there, after it was redesigned.”

Nico opens his eyes and turns his head to see that Will has shifted to face him and is watching him with hooded eyes, there’s a red streak coming from the window and it’s illuminating part of Will’s face. Nico turns his head back to face the ceiling.

“Well, I went with Percy and Annabeth, and a few other’s, Hazel was there. The building’s are typical ancient Greece. They’re giant though, the pillars that hold them up are like a massive tree stump. And there’s a statue for everything Greek you can think of, the fountains run with gold and everything’s so white. I don’t remember much of what we did that day.”

Nico thinks Will might have fallen asleep after he doesn’t say anything in a minute. Nico jumps slightly when he feels a foot slide against his.

Will just laughs lightly, “My feet are cold.” He explains and slides his two feet to tangle with Nico’s. Will starts rubbing his foot up and down, the movement causes Nico’s stomach to tighten and his skin breaks out in goosebumps.

“It’s always cold down here.” Nico explains.

“I’ve noticed.” Will says and flings his arm around Nico as he does, pulling him closer.

“Hmmm.” Will hums contentedly, “I thought you might be cold as well but you’re not.”

Nico tries to relax but he can feel Will’s soft breath fanning against his face and neck, Will’s arm is warm across Nico’s stomach and their feet are still twined together. He doesn’t think he’s ever been this close to another person.

Will seems to notice Nico’s tenseness because he loosens his grip around Nico. Before Will can say anything or pull away Nico reaches up with his hand not trapped next to Will and rest’s it on top of Will’s hand.

He doesn’t want Will to move, he’s just not used to being held so close to someone.

He starts lightly moving his finger tips across Will’s hand to distract himself, feeling over his knuckles and moving down his long fingers. Will flips is hand after a moment and twines his hand with Nico’s stilling his movements.

The feeling in his stomach hasn’t eased and the fateful butterflies seem to burst free as Will squeezes his hand lightly.

“I didn’t like that day very much.” Nico says after a moment.

Will seems to gather they’ve gone back to their previous conversation.

“Why?” He asks and then lets out a yawn. He moves his head across from his own pillow until it’s on top of Nico’s, his chin resting against Nico’s hair.

“Well, it’s embarrassing but Percy couldn’t stop looking at Annabeth. He looked at her like he loved her.”

“He does love her.”

“I know.” Nico laughs softly and their joined hands move as Nico’s stomach shifts with the movement. “I had a bit of a crush on Percy, I didn’t like seeing him with Annabeth.”

It’s Will’s turn to laugh, “Really? Percy? You’re so predictable.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well he’s the golden boy, of course you had a crush on him, everyone had a crush on him.”

The words would have stung Nico year’s ago but he only laughs softly at them now. He’s glad his boyhood infatuation with Percy had been able to transform to a friendship.

“Are you saying you had a crush on him?” Nico asks teasingly.

“Of course, I just told you, everyone had a crush on Percy.”

Nico laughs again and release’s Will’s hand turning himself so he’s facing Will, his head tucked against Will’s throat and Will’s arm still around him, holding him close.

“Not anymore though.” Nico says quietly.

“No, not anymore.” Will affirms

Nico closes his eyes and falls asleep, his feet still tangled with Will’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading everyone!!  
> I hope you liked this chapter, I had so much fun writing it, especially the ending so I hope you guys found it ok.   
> Any kudos, bookmarks and comments are really, really appreciated. Like they make my day so than you so much.   
> If you'd like, please come say hi on [Tumblr](https://bri-ghtly.tumblr.com/)  
> Thanks again to everyone for reading!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! I haven't written much more for this but I have a direction I want it to go so please if you enjoyed let me know and I'll continue writing. I lack motivation at the best of times so please let me know what you think and if you think I should continue.  
> Any Kudos, comments and bookmarks are very much appreciated, seeing people enjoy my stories makes my day.   
> If you feel like it, I'd love if you come said hi on [Tumblr](https://bri-ghtly.tumblr.com/)  
> Thank you so much for reading <3 :)


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